Christian speakers are the fastest-growing segment of a billion-dollar business. Ken Davis is the granddaddy of the field.

The 900 people at a recent fundraiser banquet in Miami make up a particularly God-fearing crowd. They are here to raise money for First Choice Women's Centers, a group that presses women with unwanted pregnancies to forgo abortion. A female singing group croons, "Are you ready for a revelation?" Then a young woman tells of how she had almost aborted her sixth pregnancy before deciding, "God isn't going to give you what you cannot bear," sparking thunderous applause.

But it all is just a warm-up for the headline act:keynote speaker Kenneth Davis. He starts out like a G-rated comedian, lamenting the indignities of airport security. Eventually the topics get weightier, and his listeners become fixated. He tells of how he and his wife had decided against having children, only to conceive and later feeling, "I would have given my life for that baby.' Does that sound familiar?" The audience, getting this apparent reference to Christ giving up his life to save sinners, applauds enthusiastically. By the end of the night the nonprofit has raised $150,000, a third of its annual budget.

Ken Davis is a top draw on the thriving circuit for inspirational Christian speakers. He makes 90 appearances a year, using a rambling, Cosbyesque patter to ply religious themes. His market: evangelical fundraisers, youth events and rallies for the Promise Keepers and the like. He has been at this for three decades, and these days he has plenty of company--and competition. Christian speechmakers generate perhaps $100 million a year in fees, a sliver of the $1 billion-a-year lecture circuit, but one that is growing 25% a year, say the speakers bureaus. Their ranks include former star pitcher Orel Hershiser, the venerable TV host Art Linkletter, former U.S. Senator Zell Miller of Georgia and former Alabama Supreme Court Judge Roy Moore--the jurist who was removed for refusing to dismantle a courthouse monument to the Ten Commandments.

This pursuit is far from a vow of poverty. Davis earns up to $12,000 for each appearance and rakes in $800,000 a year from marketing seminars, conferences and sales of 9 books, 13 DVD releases and other merchandise. That rankles some who see an unseemly mingling of preaching and profit. "The actual gospel of Christ, this 2,000-year-old message, has been hijacked into self-help," says Donald Miller, himself a more academic speaker and the author of a memoir, Blue Like Jazz Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003). "What's the most revered institution in society? It's big business. So what do our speakers look like? They look like CEOs."

But Davis sees no reason to apologize for reaping riches on religion. "God is the one who brings opportunity," he says. "It's a sin to ignore it."

Born and bred in Brainerd, Minn., he got his start after graduating from Oak Hills Bible Institute in 1968, when he began addressing high school crowds and mixing magic with motivation. A few years later Davis sought new and older audiences with material about marriage and child-rearing. By 1980 he was speaking full-time and making $50,000 a year.

These days Davis draws from eight hours of light material and tailors his message to the gig. Clients can wind him up for Sunday morning homilies: "Why the Bible compares us to sheep and how to become a super sheep" or "Living and laughing together." Davis' road manager, Brian Scheer (who also is his son-in-law), promotes ticketed comedy shows. One on DVD is called Is ItJust Me?Live fromSheboygan.

Big churches throwing big events look to speakers to add a bit of pizzazz. The 3,500-member megachurch Ridgecrest Baptist in Dothan, Ala. hosts a $15,000 event every year to bring in new members. (Up next:an outdoors-themed fest with a four-wheeler door prize.) The church hires radio morning-show hosts, comics, bands and acts such as the Strength Team, Christian musclemen who hoist heavy things and break them. "Knowing Jesus is fun," says Keith Sewell, assistant pastor.

Davis emphasizes that he could easily retire today, so it isn't as if he does this for the money. He owns and flies his own bush plane, golfs at a Nashville country club and has a cabin in the Rockies for bow hunting. "It's never been my desire to be superwealthy," he says. "But when the postman delivers the check, I do not turn him away."

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